


Things Fall Apart

by gwmclintock88



Series: Across the Whedonverse [5]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Multi, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Spoilers, Whedonverse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-15
Updated: 2015-04-15
Packaged: 2018-03-23 01:04:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,514
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3749275
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gwmclintock88/pseuds/gwmclintock88
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jemma - She never wondered when things went wrong: She knew the exact moments that fractured them, knew the secrets never spoken that threatened to tear them asunder. </p>
<p>Fitz -  He thought of the words on his knees, of how much he yearned to know who they belong to as he grew up. He’d never imagine finding his girls, or rather they finding him, but he had them and right now, he wasn’t going to let them go. </p>
<p>Skye - Instead of quakes and shakes, she now felt that trembling sensation she got after Leo and Jemma spoke to her for the first time. It felt amazing to use these…gifts and not feel like she was being torn asunder. But they taught her nothing about constants.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Things Fall Apart

**Author's Note:**

> Unlike my other stories in this playground, this story focuses on the soulmarks after they've met. The series progressed almost exactly the same, except Fitzskimmons is real. Now, they're dealing with everything and well....things fall apart.
> 
> They also can be put back together.

_Jemma_

She never wondered when things went wrong: She knew the exact moments that fractured them, knew the secrets never spoken that threatened to tear them asunder. She needn’t be a spy to identify anything, except being a spy, an Agent of SHIELD, meant know secrets and being forced to keep them. And over time, they just got too damn good at hiding.

            “Fitz,” she reached out to him, but dropped her hand before she could take his. They had to fix things, if only because she wasn’t sure who Jemma was without them.

            ‘Them’ being her loves, marked with the first words she said to them. For Fitz…Leo had an ambiguous greeting on his left knee and the only way she knew it was hers was because of the hand writing. His words were on her hip, a combination of a surprise and curses after she made him drop his sandwich while at the Academy. It was how they met, and it was wonderful, but not complete.

            At least, until they both spoke to Skye and Skye spoke to them. After that, things seemed to round out and Jemma found that balance she was missing in her life. Fitz too, though he claimed to be luckiest man in the world given he had two beautiful women as his soulmarks. Skye’d tease him, but Jemma knew the thrill they felt at the exaltation he spoke with when talking about them.

            Things were good and now…

            “We-we-we’re not stable,” he said, glancing at her before turning back to the monitor. The strides he made in recovery seemed to falter under extreme stress and really, there were few situations as stressful as watching your beloved through viewscreen. “Everything is shaken up.”

            Poor choice of words. Accurate, but poor.

            Things almost crashed after SHIELD fell, but they clung to each other and survived it.

            But San Juan…after San Juan, things just began to drift and fall apart. The mending and fixes they all worked so hard at began to tear and twist. They weren’t perfect before, but they definitely were better than when Jemma first returned to her loves. Fitz would talk with her and Skye seemed to have to be less of a go-between for them.

            Being only friends with Fitz in the beginning was awkward – especially with waiting for their third. They agreed to not be together until they met the third, the owner of the tiny question written on the other side of Jemma’s hip and on Fitz’s right knew. They’d be together, be Fitzsimmons, which alleviated some of the stress of the wait. The time spent without their third gave Jemma a chance to explore a little. Fitz didn’t like that too much, but then she explored with him and he was more amendable to letting her spread her wings. When Skye came to them and asked her question, Jemma stood side by side with Fitz, and it was only natural to let those wings wrap around both of them and pull them close.

            She loves Fitz, just as Skye loves him.

            She loves Skye, just as Fitz loves her.

            She loves Fitzskye, just as Skye loves Fitzsimmons, and Fitz loves Skimmons. She loves being Fitzskimmons (the little portmanteaus developed as they all fell together. Skye thought of them, and it linked them together, so Jemma hardly ever complained about them).  Up until San Juan, they were still falling together, still Fitzskimmons, but afterwards, things fell apart.

            Now, all she wanted to do  was reach out and let them know how much care and emotional attachment she felt for them, how they ignited in her something more primal and powerful than the word ‘love’ could ever encompass. Her experiences as Fitzskimmons surpassed even her attachment to science.  It was hard to forget that, but with San Juan and everything that happened, somehow she did.

            Jemma took a deep breath and gathered her courage and steel, and closed the last little distance between their hands. She entwined her fingers with Fitz and asked, “What can I do?”

            “Talk to her,” he said immediately, as if he knew the question before she asked it. “I-we-I need both of you and it’s…it’s…” She squeezed his hand and offered him a smile and kiss on the cheek. He calmed down as she moved a little closer, resting more against him.

            “You were right to keep this from me,” she said. She didn’t look at him, but leaned her head on his shoulder. He relaxed even more, the tension in his body leaving as she acknowledged his strength of heart. He lied to save them, and Jemma could never hate him for that. “I didn’t react well to it and I’m sorry.”

            Skye, their third (and second and first), was still in quarantine.  A locked door stood between them and her, though the blame for the quarantine wasn’t medical, but Jemma’s selfish fear. Skye locked herself away in fear that she would hurt them and for a moment, one horrible moment, Jemma agreed. Except then she realized what that door meant – things kept falling and if she didn’t do something, they would break and no longer be Fitzskimmons, and maybe not even Fitzskye. They’d be alone, and that fear trumped everything Jemma knew.

            “Don’t try to…she doesn’t need a cure,” Fitz said, turning to look at her. She let him speak. She agreed with him now, but he needed to say the words to her. “She’s different, and unsure, but she’s still our Skye. And we…she’s okay. We can be okay, just don’t…”

            “I won’t,” Jemma said, “not unless she asks.” She would do anything for her loves. No matter what some nosy mechanic thought – she’d sacrifice science itself to save them.

            Fitz accepted her answer with a little smile. It played on his lips and Jemma caught a glimpse of the Fitz from back in the Academy. She leaned up and kissed him. It wasn’t a fierce kiss, emotional fraught or demanding. It was gentle, brief, and pure. The kind they shared when first starting out, when things still were bright and shiny and wonderful.

            “Come on,” Jemma said as she pulled back. She tugged on his hand and Fitz followed her, keeping step. No more closed doors, no more locks, no more barriers. She wanted none of that. All Jemma wanted was her Fitzskye.

_Fitz_

It wasn’t unusually for him to be pulled along by one of his girls. Even before his accident, both enjoyed towing and pushing him toward wherever they wanted to go. Skye often did it with a coy smile, Jemma with some determined look. The end result was almost always the same: He went with them, even if he was preoccupied with some other task. Ward said he was whipped, but really how could he deny them anything?

            This time, Jemma pulled her way across the gap she left between them. Fitz wouldn’t admit it to anyone but Skye that he thought she was even more ill-prepared for change than he was. She wasn’t afraid – neither of his girls were – but Jemma excelled at preparation more than adaption. Skye was the opposite, and somehow, Fitz helped balance them out. It made any distance between them feel like a canyon, but now, with Jemma pulling him along toward their girl.

            Jemma stopped in front of the door to Skye’s ‘room.” Fitz moved to the other side and began to work on the control panel. They may not have a lot of time, but despite Coulson’s orders to let Skye be, this was more important. They were more important.

            The door slid open and Jemma slipped in first. Fitz followed and closed it behind him.

            Skye stood up and took a step toward them. Shock and a little anxious played out on her face. “What? You can’t be here?”  She tried to take another step, but quickly fell in on herself. She collapsed on her makeshift bed, drawing her knees up to her chest and hiding her tired eyes. Jemma moved to one side of the bed and sat next to her. Fitz watched her hesitate, but she quickly overcame whatever gave her pause to wrap Skye tightly in a hug. She glanced up at him and held onto Skye.

            Jemma then reached out to him, and Fitz felt himself once again giving into the gravity of his girls. He sat down on Skye’s other side. He never hate not being a large guy, but for once, he felt a rush of self-loathing as he tried to wrap his arms around both of them. His fingers just gripped Jemma’s shoulder, not enough to complete the circuit, but enough for contact. Jemma’s arms failed to even grasp his shoulder, but they reached out, holding Skye in place.

            “It’s not safe,” Skye muttered into her knees. Fitz felt her shaking, her body practically vibrating, but he just held on tight. Jemma whispered to her, her voice low and sure, but there, telling Skye they loved her and weren’t anywhere, ever again.

            “We decide that,” Fitz added to the litany of assurances Jemma whispered. He thought of the words on his knees, of how much he yearned to know who they belong to as he grew up. He’d never imagine finding his girls, or rather they finding him, but he had them and right now, he wasn’t going to let them go.

            They sat together, and after a while, Skye stopped shaking.  Jemma never stopped repeating her words, but Fitz just offered himself. He was there, and for Jemma who needed to cross a greater distance, maybe talking was helping, but he was there, and Skye knew that.

            “How are your hands?” Jemma asked in a normal tone. “Do they…are you okay?”

            “Yeah,” Skye looked up out of her arms, slightly still in shock at both of them so close, but she quickly turned to look at her hands. They still had the braces on them, braces he wished she didn’t need. “They don’t hurt any more than they did before.”

            “Good,” Fitz said, kissing her head. “That’s good right?”

            “Yes,” Jemma said. She aped him, giving the other side a kiss, as a large smile blossomed on her face. “It means you are starting to control it.”

            “And that’s okay?” Skye asked. She glanced at him for a moment, but remained focused on Jemma.

            “I don’t like it when you’re hurt Skye,” Jemma said. She released one of her hands from his shoulder to brush some hair out of Skye’s face. “You know this, and I thought this was…I was wrong, but I thought that I could help you by getting rid of this. But,” she started up again before Skye could get a word in, “this is you, and I don’t ever want you to change. You’re ours.”

            “You’re mine,” Skye said. Her words for them, even if she gave their relationships nicknames – Jemma stole those for her attribution. Fitz just kept it simple: they were his girls.

            “We’re yours,” Jemma said. “And nothing is going to keep you from us. Not this, not Hydra, not anything.” Fitz nodded, thinking back to the small necklace he started to make now that he felt more confident with his hands.  It was ready, and all he needed now is –

            “Skye, pack your things,” Coulson stood in the doorway, staring at the three of them.

            “What?” Jemma removed her arms from Skye, only so she could stand in front of Coulson. Fitz kept a hold of Skye and tried to pull her closer. The shaking that had stopped only what seemed like moments before had started back up again.

            “Something…” Coulson stepped further into the room and closed the door behind him. “Something is happening, and right now, the best place for Skye to be is not here.”

            Jemma started to try and reason with him. “Sir, I must – you can’t – but –“

            “Simmons,” Coulson snapped, getting all three of them to look up at him. “I wouldn’t do this if I didn’t think it wouldn’t mean she was safe.”

            “What’s wrong with here?” Fitz asked. Skye moved her arms just enough for her fingers to reach out and grab a hold of his arm.

            “I’ll go,” she whispered. Jemma twisted around, staring at her. “If it means keeping you two safe, I’ll go.” She looked up at them and tried to smile, but all they could see were the tears pooling in her eyes. Skye uncurled herself, letting her legs drop back to the floor. She moved Fitz arm from around her shoulder to just holding hands and reached out for one of Jemma’s.

            “It’s not forever, Skye,” Coulson said. “Just until we can figure this out.”

            “See, I’ll be back before you know it,” Skye said. She kissed them on the cheek, and tried to put some more of her usually peppiness into her words, but Fitz felt the melancholy hang around her. “Plus, we’ll Skype and stuff.”

            “Of course,” Jemma said. “I’ll make sure that we can send care packages too.” She turned toward Coulson and fixed him probably with the angriest look Fitz had ever seen on her face. “After all, we wouldn’t want you to not feel at home. Would we, sir?”

            Fitz would later swear that he saw Coulson swallow hard, and really Jemma is probably as scary as May considering all of the science she could kill someone with. The Director nodded and said, “We will set that up as soon as you are there.”

            “Do I…I have something. To give you,” Fitz said. He stood up from the bed, letting go of Skye’s hand. “Jemma can you help her pack while I get it?”

            “Be quick, and meet us in the hanger,” Coulson said.

            Fitz quickly complied, tripping over his feet as he headed down to the where their lab used to be on the Bus. He worked on it there, even with Mac’s presence since the man never could figure out anything without some direction. This necklace, this creation was formed solely based on his thoughts. They may be fragmented and a little decayed but he still could do the job, and do it well.

            Fitz vaulted down the stairs and landed hard. His legs nearly buckled, but the pain was ignorable. He headed to his workbench and reached for a toolbox he kept there. Most of the stuff was just things he used on a daily basis. But underneath the various tools and pieces of wire was a box he made, with the gift he spent so much time working on that he lost track of the number of hours. It had to be perfect for Skye. Jemma agreed and helped when she could, adding her own little flairs and developing the bioluminescent chemicals for the interior.

            Skye had so few things that were her own. When she came to them with just a box and a bag, Fitz’s heart broke for her. She gave so much of herself to others, trying to protect the family that she had, that he wanted her to have something good too. He started it right soon after he woke up. It gave him something to concentrate on without feeling the pressure of being an agent. When Jemma came back, she showed him the chemical compound she wanted to add. It was easy enough to develop a small casing for it and add it to the design.

            The plan was to give it to her on her birthday, but now, this was more important.

            Grabbing the box, Fitz caught them as Jemma walked with Skye down to the hanger. Coulson was behind him, looking if anything more exhausted then when he was dealing with the aftermath of Skye’s change.

            “You found it?” Jemma asked, pulling Skye to a halt. He nodded, slightly out of breath but held out the little box to Skye. She looked at it before looking at him and Jemma several times. Jemma scoffed, reaching over and taking Skye’s bag from her hand. “Open it.”

            Skye followed directions, lifting the lid up carefully. “Guys,” she whined, tears threatening to fall from her eyes as she lifted the necklace out.

            “We want you,” Fitz said. He reached up and with more surety than he felt, cupped her cheek in the palm of his hand. She leaned into it, but kept staring at the shades of blue dancing in the necklace. “No matter what.”

            He pulled her close and gave her a gentle kiss, one repeated by Jemma. Nothing fancy, nothing hard. Just a promise to be there for her. Skye slipped on the necklace and gave them one last look before being ushered off the Bus by Coulson.

            “She’ll be okay, right?” Jemma asked. She stayed with him, leaning into him as much as she was leaning into her. They held each other up because the third leg of their tripod was gone. “Coulson wouldn’t hurt her.”

            Fitz nodded in agreement, but kept the rest to himself: someone else might, and that someone was here.

_Skye_

This wasn’t home.

She woke up to two strangers with a bunch of pins stuck into her and a guy claiming she said his words. Well, fuck him and his good looking face.

            Yes, it helped to hear everything that happened and see people who had gone through something similar to her. Well, she had it worse, but things still fucking sucked. Especially without her people. Coulson, May, but more importantly Jemma and Fitz. She was locked up here with no way to telling anyone she was safe.

            Paradise but still a prison

            Everything sounded like a cult to her. People who lived in such seclusion that they believed they wanted this. Except protection from the outside world, which yeah, great idea in theory, but they were left here and nothing could let them see for themselves. Well, Gordon could but he definitely drank the koolaid.

            Lincoln kept talking, trying to persuade her of how awesome this place was. And from his point of view, it probably was. But they weren’t her, and definitely didn’t have the life she lived, so why the fuck can’t she just leave right now? Oh, yeah, that’s right, only Gordon can relay messages to the outside. Which obviously meant no Internet, and no Tumblr or Imger, Reddit, or anything like that. Yeah, the cabin wasn’t connected either, but really at least that was supposed to be temporary. The way Lincoln keeps trying to sell her the purple drink as if she was going to live out her life here.  But living here meant never seeing hers again, and the Dude did not abide that.

            After being left in her ‘quarters’ for the night, Skye searched her bag to it. She clung to the gift on the flight over and even as the SHIELD agents attacked her. She knew it was in her possession when got kidnapped (again), but she wasn’t wearing it when she woke up. Instead, she spent the night rubbing the words that overlapped each other just below her breasts.  Words said by hers.

            She never had too many things growing up. Joining SHIELD earned her a family, with all the gifts involved with it, but it gave her something tangible to add to the words written on her skin. Two. Two people for her to claim. Two wonderful, adorable, ambitious, and intelligent people. A Jemma and a Leo. Hers.

            She waited to learn more about them – the offer of training was worth something to her too. She thought of her connection to them, to Jiaying, and could have stayed had they not taken something that was hers.

            “Where is it?” Skye finally asked. Nearly a week had passed since she first woke up, and she learned so much about herself and what she could do. Everything they were teaching helped with vibrations. Instead of quakes and shakes, she now felt that trembling sensation she got after Leo and Jemma spoke to her for the first time. It felt amazing to use these…gifts and not feel like she was being torn asunder. But they taught her nothing about constants.

            “Where’s what?” Lincoln asked. For a smart guy, he sure acted dumb. For a smart guy who claimed to like her and that she said his words, he definitely deserved the ass-kicking he’d get if he kept messing around with this agent.

            “My necklace,” Skye said. She felt everything moving and shaking and vibrating. Even Lincoln’s heart. The thought crossed her mind to stop it, just for a moment, but then she thought of hers. They wouldn’t want her to become like…Raina. “Where is my necklace?”

            “We have it somewhere safe.” Skye spun around to glare at Jiaying. The woman held her gaze, but Skye caught the flickering of doubt in those eyes.  “It was thought to impede your recovery, similar to those gauntlets you had with you.”

            “It is mine,” Skye said through gritted teeth. “You brought me here, without my permission, and then take the one thing that I want from me. You want me to stay? Give it to me. Now.”

            “We brought you home -”

            “This isn’t my home!” Skye yelled. She waved a hand toward the rest of the people gathering around them. The earth began to shake as she bled out some of her aggression into it. Nothing too violent, but enough that people began to cling and looked scared of her. Good, she was pissed. “This isn’t my family. You…you don’t have the right to make that decision for me. I have asked, and asked, and asked to send a message to them. To talk to them, and tell them I’m around. To tell mine I’m okay, but you…” Skye growled out the end of the sentence. Lincoln took a step forward but Skye held out her hands. “Buddy, one more move, your ass is on the ground.”

            “Skye, we’re trying to help you,” he said. She ignored him. Jiaying started to cry or at least looked like it.

            “And I’m grateful for that, but…but this isn’t my home. As much as you’re showing me, telling me, teaching me, this is just a stop over,” Skye said. She took a couple of deep breaths as she centered herself – like May taught her. She thought of Jemma and Fitz, waiting for her, at the base. She thought of constants and variables.

            Fitz let her play a game back when he was still recovering, mainly because he couldn’t use the controller too well, but she indulged him. In the end, the messages of constant and variables gave her an insight into just about everything. There were certain constants in life, especially her life.  Jemma and Leo were one of the few she had. They were constants and that necklace was a reminder of that constant presence in her life. Hers kept choosing her, no matter what. Even if things were rough for a while, they still chose her.

            “We’ll get you your necklace,” Jiaying finally said. “And I’m sorry for the trouble this may have caused you.”

            “Look, I’m…” Skye stopped herself. She had nothing to be sorry for. She didn’t hurt anyone or destroy anything. If anything she may be a little ungrateful, but she was kidnapped by a cult so that could slide. “You guys really have no idea what the hell is going on in the world?”

            “We know some things,” Lincoln said, but again, ignoring the pretty idiot.

            “It is best if we are not influenced by outside events,” Jiaying said. “The distractions may result in larger problems.”

            “Look, newsflash – the world has changed,” Skye said. “We live in a world of superheroes and aliens. The shit we can do isn’t as scary anymore.” A picture of Raina popped in her head. “Well most of it isn’t it. My point is that unless you guys want a war, you’re going to have to have more contact than just Gordon.”

            She must have started a fire because everyone around her began to whisper. Were they really that naïve? “What do you suggest we do?”

            “You want to help people? Great. Let the right people know about it,” Skye said. She thought of SHIELD, and of Coulson and May. She trusted them. They wanted to help her and to the best of their ability they did. But Leo and Jemma helped her more, and having that, holding that gave her enough of a center to actually learn from Jiaying’s guidance instead of letting it run off her back like water. “Let me contact mine, and maybe stop them from storming this place and people from getting hurt.”

            “You think they could find us?” One of the elders scoffed. She glared at him and imagined him on fire, which didn’t happen since no pyro-kinesis but the thought certainly felt good. *

            “My marks are the two smartest people I know, and with a very limited understanding of what happened to me, they helped me,” Skye said. A couple of more people gasped, this time Jiaying and Lincoln among them. Apparently, soulmarks were not a big thing around here, explaining Lincoln’s Ward-esque fixation on her.  “They will find me. They are mine and that necklace is from them.”

            Skye watched the people react and waited for someone to say something. Jiaying spoke first, making a decision for the Elders it seemed. Skye wondered if that meant…but how could her guide be an elder too? Maybe that was her gift. Still, she said something as Jiaying spoke.

            “We will…we will get it at once” Jiaying said. “We – I had no idea that you had met your…marks? And we will discuss your offer. For now, please, accept our apologies for current state.” Skye let out a long breath and nodded. “There are some other things we will need to discuss.”

            “Okay, whatever,” Skye said. She kept her focus on getting her necklace back because that meant something of her constants with her. She needed them, and if she couldn’t have them with her then the necklace would have to do.

            She could make things fall apart, destroy them with a few motions and a thought, but her constants held her together, and really, that’s all she wanted anymore. She wanted their arms and words around her and the necklace was a poor substitute. In this creepy little world, it would have to do until she got back to them.

            And she would, even if left on her own, she’d get back to them. Things fell apart, and they could be remade. Skye fell apart and hers made her stronger. She’d learn to control this and then use it to protect hers. No matter what anyone said here or out there, she had her Jemma and her Leo. She had hers and they loved her. Everything else would work out in the end. As long as the constants held, everything would be okay.  

 

**Author's Note:**

> I own nothing except the plot.
> 
> This pairing was requested by reader Zill. Up next? Spike/River
> 
> If you have a pairing you'd like read, please let me know. Anyone from anything by Whedon is fair game, so let me know.
> 
> Good night and good luck.


End file.
